If converting an on-campus course to one that is online, resources used in a classroom setting may not be able to used in the online classroom because of copyright issues. Not all of the group members are "currently" using materials with these problems, but that doesn't make for a fun answer, does it? Here's the experience of one faculty member at the UMKC School of Social Work. “Since I currently teach two sections of the same research course, one on campus and the other online, I have tried to set them up so as not to violate copyright rules. In the case of one chapter of one book that the library did not own, I loaned the library my personal copy, they made a photocopy of it, or rather I guess they scanned it into a digital file and put it on electronic reserve. Which is what the library has requested us to do, rather than us make our own copies and placing them on blackboard. They will sort out the copyright issues. In one case, in a previous year, I was going to have them post a book chapter from a book that I owned, but the library did not, and rather than run afoul of copyright issues they purchased the book and put it on electronic reserve. Thinking back to classes which I taught on campus earlier, in which I used copyright materials. In this case it was the film The Long Walk Home, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek. It my class I showed the entire film and followed that with a class discussion, I was able to show the entire film, because it was bought Smith refers to in the law as a "lawfully made copy" of the film.; meaning that I had legally obtained it through our library. Since the content had to do with human interaction within the context of a particular social environment, it was fair use in a human behavior and the social environment class. However to go to an online class with that content would be problematic. According to Kevin Smith (2010), whom the University has brought in for his expertise in copyright law, while it is perfectly acceptable for me to show the entire film in a face-to-face class, I would run afoul of the law if I digitized and transmitted the whole film over the Internet for my students to watch. I could however reproduce reasonable and limited portions of that film to highlight salient points in the curriculum. Of course as he points out in his lecture, there's no hard and fast rule to find reasonable or limited. Further, I would have to make sure that there are provisions in the technology that would not allow nonstudents to view the material, or to make copies of the material, by right clicking or other kinds of download managers, and I would have to make sure that the film clips that I used are only available during the class meeting time. And of course there would have to be some sort of educational objective attached to it, I couldn't show film clips or parts of film clips, without linking it to some sort of discussion, or me as instructor added my own original content to that. I have currently been favoring finding appropriate materials through Creative Commons, because each work there clearly states the copyright holders’ intent when it comes to reuse of the material. I reviewed the presentation by Kevin Smith on copyright and fair use issues for teaching, which we have available to us on "Mospace" which made me rethink the way that I use images. Of course we all know that Microsoft clipart sometimes just does not make the point we would like to in our lectures and while I understood it is generally acceptable for educational purposes to insert images from the web, as long as it is cited, Smith seemed to be in favor of linking to versus simply citing. So for example if I had a YouTube that I wanted to show in class, then linking or embedding a link to that content is a much safer option. There is something called an implied consent when somebody posts something on the web that makes it available for us as educators. Smith, K. L. (2010). Copyright & Fair Use Issues for Teaching. Retrieved November 6, 2010, from https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/8572” A second group member had a different solution to a very similar problem: “I have been using a movie in my face-to-face classes called “Holding Ground: Rebirth of Dudley Street,” a project of New Day Digital, http://www.newdaydigital.com/. I toyed with different means of showing it to my online students, including showing it to the entire class through WIMBA. However, that seemed to create two problems, one with copyright concerns, and the other with student scheduling. My solution: I made arrangements with New Day Digital to allow every student to be able to download it from the producer’s web site, at a cost of $2.99. That price reflects a UMKC discount because UMKC’s library owns the film.”
The following is a summary of key points found on the following website which was referenced in this weeks assignment and proved to be the most useful in researching this question: http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/fair-use/practical-applications/posting-course-materials-online/ Instructional materials may be posted to a CMS or a course website under any of the following circumstances, as detailed more fully below.
Permissible Uses on CMS and Websites Ownership of Copyrighted Material Naturally, you may post materials to which you hold the legal rights. Linking to Databases and the Web Simply linking to materials that are already lawfully available on the Internet or in databases is often feasible, efficient, and legally sound, without raising significant copyright questions. Permission to Post Materials Permission from the copyright owner is an important option for posting materials to CMS or a website. Instructors are ordinarily responsible for securing any needed permission Works in the Public Domain Copyrights in many early works have expired, leaving them without restrictions on copying, uploading, and many other uses. Most notably, works published in the U.S. before 1923 are in the public domain. Copyrights to more recent works may also have expired, but the law requires individual scrutiny of each work. In addition, broad categories of works, such as works originally created by the U.S. federal government, have no copyright protection. Fair Use Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works without permission. Fair use plays a key role in the online world, but it may not be what you expect. Simple, clean, concise rules do not exist in the law of fair use. Do not assume that a particular use is inherently within fair use just because it is for nonprofit and educational purposes, or because you cited the source of the work or restricted access to the materials to students in the class. On the other hand, limiting the amount of material you post on your website and restricting access to the material are important ways of strengthening your claim of fair use. Fair use depends on a balancing of four factors outlined in __Section 107 of the Copyright Act__. To establish the strongest basis for fair use, consider and apply the four factors along the lines of the following suggestions. Remember, fair use involves a balancing of the factors and the “fairness” of the overall circumstances. In other words, you do not always need to comply with all of the suggestions listed here, but a strong case for fair use may likely have taken most or all of these variables into consideration. Use the __Fair Use Checklist__ to see additional variables and to created a helpful record of your evaluation of the law. Alternative Means of Delivery
Using Traditional Coursepacks: Consider using coursepacks if permission to post materials electronically is denied by the copyright owner but permission is available for creating hardcopies of the same materials.
Requiring Students to Purchase Materials: Encourage students to purchase materials if available at reasonable cost, especially when assigning substantial reading. Simple purchases seldom raise copyright issues, especially if the materials are ordered through the bookstore, online, or through other ordinary means.
Using an Electronic Reserve System: Columbia University Libraries offers print and reserve services, and the library staff will review and address the related copyright issues. Read more __information about reserve services__ at Columbia University.
Copyright Resources
If converting an on-campus course to one that is online, resources used in a classroom setting may not be able to used in the online classroom because of copyright issues. Not all of the group members are "currently" using materials with these problems, but that doesn't make for a fun answer, does it?
Here's the experience of one faculty member at the UMKC School of Social Work.
“Since I currently teach two sections of the same research course, one on campus and the other online, I have tried to set them up so as not to violate copyright rules. In the case of one chapter of one book that the library did not own, I loaned the library my personal copy, they made a photocopy of it, or rather I guess they scanned it into a digital file and put it on electronic reserve. Which is what the library has requested us to do, rather than us make our own copies and placing them on blackboard. They will sort out the copyright issues. In one case, in a previous year, I was going to have them post a book chapter from a book that I owned, but the library did not, and rather than run afoul of copyright issues they purchased the book and put it on electronic reserve.
Thinking back to classes which I taught on campus earlier, in which I used copyright materials. In this case it was the film The Long Walk Home, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek. It my class I showed the entire film and followed that with a class discussion, I was able to show the entire film, because it was bought Smith refers to in the law as a "lawfully made copy" of the film.; meaning that I had legally obtained it through our library. Since the content had to do with human interaction within the context of a particular social environment, it was fair use in a human behavior and the social environment class. However to go to an online class with that content would be problematic.
According to Kevin Smith (2010), whom the University has brought in for his expertise in copyright law, while it is perfectly acceptable for me to show the entire film in a face-to-face class, I would run afoul of the law if I digitized and transmitted the whole film over the Internet for my students to watch. I could however reproduce reasonable and limited portions of that film to highlight salient points in the curriculum. Of course as he points out in his lecture, there's no hard and fast rule to find reasonable or limited. Further, I would have to make sure that there are provisions in the technology that would not allow nonstudents to view the material, or to make copies of the material, by right clicking or other kinds of download managers, and I would have to make sure that the film clips that I used are only available during the class meeting time. And of course there would have to be some sort of educational objective attached to it, I couldn't show film clips or parts of film clips, without linking it to some sort of discussion, or me as instructor added my own original content to that.
I have currently been favoring finding appropriate materials through Creative Commons, because each work there clearly states the copyright holders’ intent when it comes to reuse of the material. I reviewed the presentation by Kevin Smith on copyright and fair use issues for teaching, which we have available to us on "Mospace" which made me rethink the way that I use images. Of course we all know that Microsoft clipart sometimes just does not make the point we would like to in our lectures and while I understood it is generally acceptable for educational purposes to insert images from the web, as long as it is cited, Smith seemed to be in favor of linking to versus simply citing. So for example if I had a YouTube that I wanted to show in class, then linking or embedding a link to that content is a much safer option. There is something called an implied consent when somebody posts something on the web that makes it available for us as educators.
Smith, K. L. (2010). Copyright & Fair Use Issues for Teaching. Retrieved November 6, 2010, from https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/8572”
A second group member had a different solution to a very similar problem:
“I have been using a movie in my face-to-face classes called “Holding Ground: Rebirth of Dudley Street,” a project of New Day Digital, http://www.newdaydigital.com/. I toyed with different means of showing it to my online students, including showing it to the entire class through WIMBA. However, that seemed to create two problems, one with copyright concerns, and the other with student scheduling.
My solution: I made arrangements with New Day Digital to allow every student to be able to download it from the producer’s web site, at a cost of $2.99. That price reflects a UMKC discount because UMKC’s library owns the film.”
The following is a summary of key points found on the following website which was referenced in this weeks assignment and proved to be the most useful in researching this question:
http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/fair-use/practical-applications/posting-course-materials-online/
Instructional materials may be posted to a CMS or a course website under any of the following circumstances, as detailed more fully below.
- The __instructor is the copyright owner__ of the material, or
- The material is made available by __linking__ rather than copying, or
- The copyright owner of the material grants __permission__, or
- The material is in the __public domain__, or
- The use is within “__fair use__” under the law, or
- The use is within __another statutory exception__.
Permissible Uses on CMS and WebsitesOwnership of Copyrighted Material
Naturally, you may post materials to which you hold the legal rights.
Linking to Databases and the Web
Simply linking to materials that are already lawfully available on the Internet or in databases is often feasible, efficient, and legally sound, without raising significant copyright questions.
Permission to Post Materials
Permission from the copyright owner is an important option for posting materials to CMS or a website. Instructors are ordinarily responsible for securing any needed permission
Works in the Public Domain
Copyrights in many early works have expired, leaving them without restrictions on copying, uploading, and many other uses. Most notably, works published in the U.S. before 1923 are in the public domain. Copyrights to more recent works may also have expired, but the law requires individual scrutiny of each work. In addition, broad categories of works, such as works originally created by the U.S. federal government, have no copyright protection.
Fair Use
Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works without permission. Fair use plays a key role in the online world, but it may not be what you expect. Simple, clean, concise rules do not exist in the law of fair use. Do not assume that a particular use is inherently within fair use just because it is for nonprofit and educational purposes, or because you cited the source of the work or restricted access to the materials to students in the class. On the other hand, limiting the amount of material you post on your website and restricting access to the material are important ways of strengthening your claim of fair use. Fair use depends on a balancing of four factors outlined in __Section 107 of the Copyright Act__.
To establish the strongest basis for fair use, consider and apply the four factors along the lines of the following suggestions. Remember, fair use involves a balancing of the factors and the “fairness” of the overall circumstances. In other words, you do not always need to comply with all of the suggestions listed here, but a strong case for fair use may likely have taken most or all of these variables into consideration. Use the __Fair Use Checklist__ to see additional variables and to created a helpful record of your evaluation of the law.
Alternative Means of Delivery